Purdy: Boyle is the most likely candidate to replace Marleau as captain

San Jose Sharks Dan Boyle (22) controls the puck against the Anaheim Ducks in the third period for the first game of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. on Sunday, April 19, 2009. (Gary Reyes/Mercury News)

Patrick Marleau is no longer the Sharks' captain. The team made it official Monday.

If you are stunned or surprised, you must be either a pure Marleau enthusiast who doesn't believe in consequences, or a pure baseball fan who doesn't believe in hockey.

Here's a bigger question: Will Marleau be with the Sharks at all by the season-opening face off?

The answer remains very much up in the air. Rumors still gurgle that Marleau could be traded, perhaps as part of some three-way deal that would bring Ottawa's Dany Heatley to our beloved Los Tiburones.

However, if Monday's news does anything in that regard, it probably pushes the needle more toward Marleau staying. Otherwise, why would the Sharks even bother to make the announcement? Marleau could have simply dropped the no-trade clause in his contract and been dealt to another team, and the captaincy of the Sharks would automatically become vacant.

Instead, it appears Marleau will be granted the wish he expressed at the postseason "State of the Sharks" question-and-answer session with fans. Marleau said his primary desire was to stay in San Jose and "prove all the naysayers wrong."

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Speaking as one of those sayers of nay, I wish Marleau well in his quest. He was never a disruptive force. Yet as captain of the team since January 2004, he just couldn't ratchet up his climate-control personality to a higher level when the stakes were raised in the springtime. Monday was the result.

What you need to know is this: Marleau was never going to be the captain of the Sharks in 2009-10, not after another early playoff elimination. Sometime in July, he was informed by team management that the "C" on his uniform would have to be removed.

Marleau gave a hint about all of this a few weeks ago when he said that he would give up the captaincy if necessary to improve the team. By then, Marleau had to know it was a done deal, anyway. The only variable, really, was how the information would be handled.

We discovered the answer Monday in an almost casual fashion, courtesy of Sharks coach Todd McLellan. The Mercury News' hockey guru, David Pollak, stopped by the team's practice rink to check on the team and McLellan offered the demotion bulletin.

"At this point," McLellan said, "nobody's our captain."

McLellan then said the captaincy would stay vacant — sort of like a temporarily unoccupied condominium — until at least the middle of next month. That's when training camp opens. Between now and then, McLellan and general manager Doug Wilson will continue to take the roster's temperature and jointly make the decision.

McLellan, it should be noted, did not rule out Marleau being renamed captain when the choice is announced. But to believe that will actually happen, you would also have to believe that Mike Vernon will be returning to play goalie.

Who will be the captain instead? Three names come to mind. The most likely candidate is Dan Boyle, the defenseman who arrived a year ago in a trade from Tampa Bay, where he won a Stanley Cup. Boyle quickly set an example of intensity on the ice and wasn't afraid to call out his teammates in public when necessary.

That doesn't mean Boyle's ascendancy is automatic. If the Sharks' hopes to win a Stanley Cup rest most firmly on the shoulders of former league MVP Joe Thornton — and they do — then it might be time for him to wear the "C" as he did earlier in his career with the Boston Bruins. That would be my vote.

The final possibility is Joe Pavelski, the young second-line center who was among the most visibly angry Sharks following the playoff loss to the Ducks. He won an NCAA championship at the University of Wisconsin. Pavelski, 25, would be a bold selection, though not an utter shock.

A captain in hockey does not have to be outspoken and loud. But he absolutely must be the gravitational center of the dressing room, setting an elevated tone when necessary. The recently retired Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche was the perfect example of all those qualities.

Marleau is a soft-spoken, beyond-decent human being who has done much good community work in San Jose without tooting his horn. But as a team leader, he never made it into Sakic territory. In the five playoffs of Marleau's captaincy, the Sharks won five series — but they also lost five series, two of them after taking a lead in games won.

Marleau personified the Sharks' postseason malaise. He could look spectacular one night, be a vapor the next night. Some excused his inconsistent play against the Ducks because he was nursing a knee problem at the time, although the injury wasn't bad enough to require surgery after the season.

As it turned out, the only thing that Marleau had cut out was the letter from his sweater. Let's see how he — and the team — respond.